Media Art Net | Ra’ad, Walid: I Only Wish That I Could Weep

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Walid Ra’ad (The Atlas Group), «I Only Wish That I Could Weep», 2001
Videostill | © Walid Ra’ad (The Atlas Group)

Relevant passages:

Inke Arns «Social Technologies Deconstruction, subversion, and the utopia of democratic communication»

8' | DVD, color, sound

Walid Ra’ad (The Atlas Group)
«I Only Wish That I Could Weep»

Like in the majority of the works by The Atlas Group / Walid Ra’ad, in the video «I Only Wish That I Could Weep» the main concern is a fictional document drawn from an imaginary archive. The video consists of the found visual material of a secret agent meant to watch suspicious characters on the beach promenade of Beirut, but who neglects his duties because of the breathtaking sundown at sea, an image he has never seen before as a citizen of East Beirut.